1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for providing an alternative key pad layout to increase security.
2. Description of the Related Art
Touch screen technology is utilized in a vast array of modern computer applications. These applications include automated teller machines (ATMs), check-in applications at airports, such as those used to print boarding passes, as well as many others. In these applications, the user often has the ability to select from a list of languages so that the information that appears is displayed in a language familiar to the user. In many touch screen applications, a physical keyboard or keypad is replaced with a virtual keyboard or keypad that is displayed on the display. If the user wants to press the one (“1”) key, for example, the user touches a virtual key that appears on the display rather than pressing a physical “1” key on a keyboard or keypad.
A depiction of a typical application utilizing a virtual keypad is shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) application commonly used by millions of people everyday. The user starts by inserting his or her ATM card (100) into ATM terminal 110. In response, the ATM machine accesses computer network 120, such as a secure banking network, to interface with bank server 130 which has access to the customer's account information 140, including the user's personal identification number (PIN), often referred to as a “PIN code,” or “password.”
Virtual keypad 150 is displayed on terminal 110's display screen. As shown, the virtual keypad is arranged in a substantially similar fashion to physical keypads that were more commonly used before the advent and large-scale use of virtual keypads. The numbers in virtual keypad 150 are displayed in a numerical order. In the example shown, the numbers 1 through 3 appear in consecutive order on the first line of the display, numbers 4 through 6 on the second line, numbers 7 through 9 on the third line, and special characters and zero (“0”) on the fourth line. In addition, virtual keys for “OK” and “Cancel” are provided. If the user selected an alternative language, some of the keys displayed might be displayed in a non-English language. Other virtual keypad arrangements exist, such as displaying 1 through 5 on a first line and 6 through 0 on a second line, or displaying all ten digits consecutively (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0) on a single line. However, one constant in the prior art is that the keys are displayed in a numerical order. In the example shown, the user enters his or her PIN code (“1-9-2-7”) as depicted by the arrows from one virtual key to the next.
The prior art's arrangement of virtual key in numeric order does allow users to easily find keys, much like finding keys on a traditional telephone. In addition, from past use with physical keypads, users are familiar with the position of keys as depicted in virtual keypad 150. The use of traditional key layouts on virtual keypads does however, present challenges.
A challenge with using traditional virtual keypads relates to the fact that today's modern society often encumbers users with a multitude of PIN codes and passwords. Remembering these various PIN codes and passwords can be problematic. What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that provides an alternative keypad layout in which the virtual keys displayed on the virtual keypad are in a non-sequential layout. Furthermore, what is needed is a system and method that allows the user to select a keypad arrangement that is more easily remembered by the user.